“It’s amazing what you can get yourself into during the down times of recording,” Ryan Demars, bass player of Santa Cruz ska/surf rock band The Expendables, said in an email interview.
“We had a bunch of parties out by the pool almost every night. We had some porn star friends come up and some B list celebrities come … leading into weird orgies and questionable situations.”
“It was nuts.”
All the parties and weird orgies occurred in a small cottage by Prairie Sun Studios in Cotati, where the band briefly lived and recorded their self titled album in 2007.
Three years later, in 2010, The Expendables would release, in their opinion, the first album that they were ever actually prepared for. This land marking album is titled “Prove It.”
“I want people to be satisfied with our effort,” Demars said. Also, “I want people to get excited when they hear our new stuff, because that is how I feel when we play the new songs.”
But things really kicked off for the Santa Cruz ska/surf rock band back in 1997 when the group first formed. At this time, the guys enjoyed a laid back experience that consisted of making music, partying, skating and surfing.
Then after three years of a laid back lifestyle, The Expendables got there first big break with the release of their debut album, “No Time To Worry.”
Barely one year later, The Expendables were ready to release their second album titled “Open Container.”
At about the release time of “Open Container” in 2001, the band started to gain respect and recognition regionally.
“I think that at that point in our career we decided on our commitment to ourselves, to our fans, and to our music,” Demars said. “Also, in that time period we were coming up with a lot of songs that eventually gained a lot of popularity.”
The big hits included the songs Fire starter, 24/7, and One Night Stand, just to name a few.
After the success of their second album, The Expendables thought it was time for another album and they hit the studio. The result was their third full length album, “Gettin’ Filthy.”
Shortly after the release of “Gettin’ Filthy,” the boys decided to hit the road. They toured rigorously with the likes of Fishbone, Pepper, and Slightly Stoopid.
On one particular tour with Slightly Stoopid, the band caught the attention of Stoopid co-front man Miles Doughty. He said that they were the best thing to happen to metal since the 80’s.
“To get a compliment from them feels very rewarding,” Demars said. “However, I don’t agree with his statement. There are tons of sick metal bands that have slayed since the 80’s. We’re not a metal band.”
But that didn’t stop Doughty from signing the guys to Slightly Stoopid’s independent record label, “Stoopid Records.” Here, The Expendables would be the first band on the label to release a non-Stoopid album.
For the next year and a half, The Expendables continued touring and on the side they wrote new tunes for what would be their self titled fourth album. The album brought in a lot of success for the band.
Among that success, especially in early 2009, was being able to play shows with punk-rock legends, NOFX.
“Playing with NOFX … is like busting the biggest nut of your life,” Demars said. “So awesome.”
After the success of their fourth album and touring relentlessly, the band decided idle time was not an option. So, The Expendables decided to hit the studio once more, and record their fifth full-length album, “Prove It.”
When The Expendables were not too busy with orgies or the recording of “Prove It,” they took pleasure in a leisure life style and “enjoyed ping pong and all dude pool parties.”
“We wanted to make sure that we gave ourselves the best opportunity to make our best album to date,” Demars said.
And that’s just what The Expendables did.
In the past, the band always felt rushed while recording their other albums. This was often due to budgets or time restraints.
This time, The Expendables “saved money to make this album, took extra time off to write songs, and [they] took time off for the actual recording process.
And like all great and serious musicians, it all starts and ends with the love of music.
“Making music for me is a release of my feelings and views on life,” Demars said. “If I wasn’t in a band I would be digging a hole for your fence post.”
But with all the fence post digging and partying with porn stars aside, The Expendables are not going anywhere, anytime soon. To be expected in the future:
“Universe take over. Watch out! More touring, more music, more gang bangs.”
